Humanoid robots break Usain Bolt's 100m sprint record

At the 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, the Tiangong Ultra robot ran 100 meters in 9.39 seconds, and the Honor Lightning followed at 9.47 seconds — both beating Usain Bolt's 9.58-second world record. The Tiangong Ultra reportedly reached 23.8 mph before crashing into padded barriers at the finish.

Why it matters: Raw sprint speed isn't itself commercially useful, but it's a visible benchmark of how fast humanoid robot locomotion and actuator control are progressing, particularly from Chinese robotics programs pushing hard on physical performance alongside AI-driven data centers and chips. Expect this kind of engineered stunt to keep showing up as a proxy metric in the broader US-China robotics competition.